CR&R Waste and Recycling Services has pledged a gift of $500,000 to support Orange Coast College’s Recycling Center, including a major expansion that will enable the campus center to accept more materials and operate more efficiently.

After 16 years of coaching OCC’s successful speech program, Ben Lohman is savoring the results of his last national competition, where Coast reclaimed its position as one of the top community college teams in the country placing second overall.

The vote is in! Dan Beard, professor of Food Service Management/Business Education is OCC’s 2012-2013 Faculty Member of the Year. The campus also selected Jorge Sanchez, a skilled maintenance worker in M&O as Staff Member of the Year, while Tina Reinemann, an instructor in Early Childhood Education, is Part-Time Faculty Member of the Year.

With OCC Counselor Gerry Sjule leading the way with more than 50 years under his belt, the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees presented service awards to 23 OCC faculty and staff members who have more than 335 years of service combined.

“Rich Pagel (OCC Vice President of Administrative Services) always says to stop and look at the flowers once in a while,” reports Gary Hoffman, emeritus professor of English, who also helps design and plant campus landscaping.

Students from Orange Coast College’s Horticulture Club and Architectural Technology teamed up to create a unique entry for South Coast Plaza’s 24th Annual Southern California Spring Garden Show, April 25-28.

Orange Coast College’s co-ed cheerleaders took first place in the NCA/NDA Collegiate National Cheer and Dance Championships in Daytona Beach earlier this month. The all-girls cheer team won third place.

The 2013 OCC Student Dance Concert will showcase the talents of 32 dancers in concert on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and April 27, at 8:00 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. Dance faculty Linda Sohl-Ellison is directing the production, assisted by Amelie Hunter.

The OCC Chamber Singers, the OCC Chorale, including talented soloists and small groups, will perform in a free concert on Sunday, April 28 at 4:00 p.m. at the Newport Harbor Lutheran Church, 798 Dover Drive, Newport Beach.

The OCC Peer Health Action Team (PHAcT) will host Club Quad on Tuesday, April 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This event is in collaboration with the OC Health Care Agency, Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD), Recording Artists Against Drunk Driving (RADD) and other agencies who are interested in decreasing alcohol-related driving deaths.

Orange Coast College’s Theatre Department will reconstruct the dark streets of 1928 Berlin in “The Threepenny Opera,” a musical exploration of a corrupt and decadent criminal underworld written by Bertoit Brecht and Kurt Weill. The production, directed by theatre arts instructor Peter Uribe, opens May 3 and runs through May 11 in the campus Drama Lab Theatre.

Dana Wheaton, Orange Coast College professor of music, will direct the OCC Wind Ensemble in its final concert of the year, “Music of Film IV,” on Sunday, May 5 at 3:00 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre.

OCC music professor Ricardo Soto will direct the OCC Symphony in a performance of Brahms Symphony No. 2, Johannes Brahms’ masterful piece that includes the famous “Brahms Lullaby.” The performance will be Saturday, May 11 at 8:00 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre.